Many travelers have been flocking back to cruises this year—some experienced cruisers, and others first-timers. And since the pandemic and getting back out in the world, many travelers have shown with their dollars that they are willing to splurge.
Norwegian Cruise Line upped its game among luxury cruise competitors with The Haven, which doesn’t consist of just better staterooms, but a fully upgraded end-to-end experience from boarding to disembarking.
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Guests in The Destination can cherish their exclusivity before even getting to their suites, which are sealed off through other staterooms on the desk with an electronically locked door that opens with a key card. Behind those doors, the hallways are lined with dark wooden panels and mood lighting reminiscent of an urban luxurious hotel—and that’s by design.
NCL president and chief executive officer Harry Sommer recalled when NCL went to the designers, the company wanted a cruise ship doesn’t “depreciate, ” one that resembles “a high-end, beautiful hotel, or even a residential type of area. ”
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“We use a lot associated with different architects to design the particular space, and they all have different visions, and then you try to do your best to make sure that when you’re leaving one room that will an architect designed, and then go into the next room that a different builder designed that there’s some continuity that will doesn’t feel like you’re in two different places, ” Sommer explained during a media briefing in New York City earlier this particular month. “So I think there’s there’s the couple of rooms where we do a better job along with those transitions. ”
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Completed this year, NCL’s newest ship, the Bombig, measures 965 feet (294 meters) from aft to forward, hosting over 3, 100 guests at double occupancy with more than 1, 500 crew members. The first of a new class associated with six ships from NCL set to roll out through 2022 in order to 2027, NCL touts the Prima as pushing the particular boundaries on cruise style, service, plus sustainability.
NCL assembled a consortium of prominent design firms for the Prima course, including Piero Lissoni, Rockwell Group, SMC Design, and Studio Dado. The cruise operator also invested more than $6 million on art, with pieces from a lot more than 50 world-renowned artists, which are curated plus spread throughout the ship in various lounges, hallways, and even an outdoor sculpture garden.
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Staterooms in The Haven are usually considerably larger, with dedicated living and bar areas, separated bedrooms, bathrooms large enough in order to fit the tub, at least double the amount of deck space. Guests have dedicated concierges for accessing anything they might need as well as assistance with making reservations at 1 of the specialty restaurants, shore excursions, or a single of the particular ship’s entertainment programs, such as a good off-Broadway musical or an improv comedy show.
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The particular Haven is also especially appealing for digital nomads—and that is not just for that extra living space within the rooms (as well as Wi-Fi throughout the ship). Visitors within the Destination have access to a special lounge, along with its own bar plus restaurant, but also plenty associated with couches and quiet area to get work done. The Haven lounge also has the own private sun deck at the particular aft of the deliver with a good infinity pool.
Sommer furthermore told reporters that The Dreamland has opened up NCL to more “multi-generational travel. ”
“I think it appeals to a slightly different demographic, a somewhat more affluent demographic, and to some extent, a slightly older market, ” Sommer said, describing how customers in these suites will often want to bring their children and grandchildren, but are hard-pressed in order to find a suitable encounter that offers both a family-friendly time with an upscale brand. “So here you get the best of each worlds, exactly where the a lot more affluent get the concierge, key card access, a private restaurant, their own swimming pool, but their particular children plus grandchildren” may visit the water slides and the three-story race track.
The Haven accounts greater than 100 of the 1, 600 cabins, around 6% associated with occupancy, and Sommer estimated that The particular Haven accounts for a minimum of 3% from the cabins across its fleet so far.
Sustainable cocktails at sea
Sustainability will be no longer just a metric or a goal for your likes of small, science-focused expedition cruises anymore. Cruise operators—large or little, budget or luxury—have gotten onboard along with remodeling their ships or even building them from the ocean up to be more friendly to the environment plus the natural ecosystems of their destinations.
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Of course, whenever you’re on a cruise, there is some fun to become had, and there can be enjoyable while promoting sustainability, too.
Case in point, NCL boasts that the Prima will host the particular first sustainable cocktail bar at sea. The Metropolitan Bar is a concept room that uses food scraps to create its own liqueurs and syrups to go in to specialty drinks. The drinks menu includes the “Primadonna, ” which looks like an Old Fashioned but is made with Flor de Caña ECO rum, homemade banana peel syrup, walnut bitters, plus orange peel off; and the Sustainable Spritz, which resembles an Aperol Spritz but is made with rosemary stem-infused vodka, surplus champagne, soda water, and half an orange wheel.
The cocktail pub falls inside NCL’s larger, company-wide ESG strategy, Sail and Sustain, which is centered around reducing environmental impact (minimizing waste, conserving fresh water, protecting oceans, etc . ), investing in local communities and providing disaster relief (especially places affected more by climate change-induced disasters), protecting personal data and privacy, empowering and supporting employee well-being.
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Among some of the ship’s most notable sustainability features: The onboard food digesters use air, water, plus microbiology to safely turn food waste materials into liquid, reducing overall food waste. And for onboard drinking water production, evaporators and reverse osmosis plants use seawater as the source, reducing the particular need with regard to the bunkering of new water. The ballast water treatment system was designed to ensure no invasive species are inadvertently introduced directly into new waters.
All in all, NCL has a goal to have zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which usually Sommer acknowledged is an “an aggressive path forward. ”
“But we absolutely plan to keep to that and work towards this, ” Sommer said. He identified two “promising” locations that NCL is looking at to make this happen. First is usually biodiesel fuel, which NCL is already testing upon some boats within its fleet now, and is currently compatible with gas tanks plus engines on-ship. Biodiesel is definitely more widely available in Europe, although, as Sommer noted, it’s mostly used by trucking companies.
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The second area is methanol; Sommer said NCL can be looking to do tests on select ships but additionally looking forward straight into building boats with methanol support from day one particular rather than possess to convert existing engineering later. Sommer added NCL has been looking into hydrogen fuel, yet there’s not enough of a readily green supply available. He stated he expects more progress on this particular front in the later half of the decade going into the 2030s.
“We can be upon track to do that, ” Sommer said, “with the technology that’s either exists today or seems to be on the particular cusp associated with being available on a commercial basis regarding cruise ships. ”